Bella
by Somewhere Safe to Escape
Summary: A girl named Bella changed everything about Chris' and Gordie's friendship and not necessarily for the best either. First Stand By Me fanfic so please review!
1. Her

_Bella_

_|Chapter 1|_

_Her_

Chris' POV:

Bella Sykes. She's the girl that stole my heart two years ago. Being a sixteen-year-old junior in high school, it isn't real easy for me to handle school, friends, and a girlfriend but I manage, like I always do one way or another. Gordie and I are still in a lot of the same classes like we were in junior high but things are, different, somehow. I can't put my finger on how they are, there's just an unusual tension-filled silence whenever we're together. I try to still eat lunch with him and you know, it really ticks me off, Gordie's always got his head in a book or his face in a stack of papers writing. Now, I'm trying to be nice here and hang with him, but how'm I supposed to do that when he won't look at me and only answers with one word answers. The kid don't have too many friends either so I feel bad you dig?

"Chris!" a high voice calls from behind me in the hall.

Soft hands rub down my shoulders and chest from behind a perfect chin resting on my left shoulder. I smile slightly and gently kiss Bella's cheek as she kisses my neck.

"I love you." She whispers.

"I love you too, babe."

We stroll down the hall together. Bella's arms still lie in a loose 'v' across my chest, her long, thick, blonde hair even lighter than mine, drapes gorgeously on me.

"Do you want to come out with me tonight?" I ask.

"Where're we goin'?"

"Oh I don't know, maybe the motel or a restaurant, maybe the bridge too." I answer, a mysterious half-smile playing on my lips.

"The bridge sounds nice." She answers, a playful smile of my same mystery and enthusiasm spreads across her luscious lips.

"Then the bridge it is then," I smile. "But don't be surprised if I have a little surprise."

Bella giggles and as we near our lockers, I pull her in front of me for a proper kiss, my tongue gently wrapping around hers for a few brief seconds. Her lips are just as reluctant as mine to break apart, my hands slowly moving up the back of her blousy shirt. Someone playfully slaps my butt and we fly apart. I whip around getting ready to beat the shit out of who just did that but then I see Scott and a few of the other guys from the football team cackling behind me. I roll my eyes at them. Bella brushes my long floppy bangs out of my eyes and kisses my lips again. I return the gesture, keeping hold of her hand as Scott is dragging me away to fifth period.

I find her at her locker after the period. I place my arm around her shoulders and kiss the top of her head.

"C'mon sweetheart." I murmur.

I buy Bella lunch since her parents are pretty dirt poor and I'm trying to keep her from being anorexic 'cause she doesn't _have_ anything to eat.

"Chris, you know you don't have to buy me lunch all the time." She mumbles. "It's not like I really need it." She glances down disapprovingly at her stomach.

I gently lift her chin with two fingers and look straight into her green eyes. "Stop Bella. You're perfect and beautiful and I wouldn't even be doing this if I didn't love you as much as I do. I just don't want to keep hurtin' yourself." I shoot a glance to her scar-ridden forearms and wrists.

She tugs her long-sleeves down further.

"Thanks." She presses her lips into my neck.

I smile widely and hand her lunch tray to her. We find Gordie and sit across from him. He opens his mouth to talk but quickly shuts it when he notices Bella next to me.

"Hey there Gord, what's going on man?" I ask.

He glances up barely. "Nothin'." He mumbles.

"Gordie, Chris tells me you write." Bella states sweetly.

"Yeah." He answers, not making eye contact with her.

A few minutes of silence pass before Bella starts to stand. "Um, Chris, Charlie wanted me to help her with her uh English homework." She stands and hurries over to the cheerleader table and all her friends.

I whip my head between Bella's slender blonde figure and Gordie, my mouth gaping a bit. I touch the edge of her tray left behind, running my tongue over my bottom lip.

"Jesus, Gordie. I don't know what your problem is man, but you need to stop hating on my girlfriend. Get your head outta the paper every once in a while and actually _try_ to be a little social. And you wonder why you don't have any friends." I snort irritated, grabbing Bella's lunch even though I know she won't eat it, as well as my own food to go sit with her and the rest of the cheerleaders.

If I had turned around maybe I'd have seen my best friend drop his head in shame, guilt and defeat, the tears falling from his eyes and his frantic scribble on a piece of paper. Maybe I would've seen how alone he was, but I didn't, I didn't turn around, I didn't think twice and at the time, I didn't regret it. I thought I was even helping him, giving him a reality check and snapping him out of la-la-land. I hadn't been more wrong in my life.

Once the bell finally rings, dismissing us from torcher, Bella walks with me to the locker room and then outside to watch us practice football. Most of the cheerleaders are there watching their boyfriends and have nothing else better to do since they themselves don't have practice today. I make quite a few good touchdowns and I'm proud of myself. Football always helps me blow off steam. I don't know why Gordie can't be normal. I mean he's smart and maybe he's not great at sports but he could still try them, yeah the coach might not ever play him, but he could try to be normal and not such a recluse.

"Chris, you done yet baby?" Bella calls, hesitantly poking her head in the locker room door all the guys going gaga over her, cat-calling and all that mess.

"Cut it out guys." I bark. "I'll be right there, Bella."

I'm tugging my pants on when I look up to see my girlfriend being brought in, standing in front of me, my teammates' have a tight grip on her arms as she tries to wriggle free.

"What the hell! Get off her!" I shout, ripping the hands off Bella.

She tries hard to not show how scared she is. I grab my gym bag off the floor, my pants aren't zipped and I don't have a shirt on but I quickly usher her out nonetheless giving very dirty glares and gestures to the teammates that dragged Bella in there. Once we're out of the school heading to my car, she throws her arms around my shoulder and waist, shaking, silently sobbing. I embrace her warmly, laying my head on top of hers, stroking her hair.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, sweetie." I whisper over and over.

She trembles in my arms and I brush the tears from her cheeks, kissing her forehead. Man, she really got spooked. Well shoot, I probably would've too.

Two hours later, we lay on blankets next to the desolate bridge. We've eaten a small dinner and I'm in a change of clothes. My truck is parked a few hundred feet away. Bella's head lies on my chest, my left arm around her shoulders. We stare at the stars for a while, talking about futures, dreams and other things that don't have any importance. She rolls over, fully laying on top of me. I kiss her neck lovingly. Minutes later, her mouth is firmly on mine, my hands pull her shirt off and hers do the same. My fingers automatically reach for her bra, they quickly undo the buckle as we pull everything else off making out and making love under the stars next to the silent bridge.

Gordie's POV:

I walk home in silence. Chris is right. I am a freak. I have no friends. My parents hate me. I'm not quite sure why I don't like Bella, oh that's right, she stole my best friend away from me and has turned him against me completely. She sounds like a nice girl but she's made Chris' head so big and always looking at girls, especially the cheerleaders. I enter the house and don't even bother looking at my parents who don't lift their heads when I walk in anyway. I head to my room, locking the door behind me. I have no one. I'm called down to a silent dinner. Dad has a newspaper next to him, reading it as we eat.

"Even that thug Chambers is a football player and he's pretty damn good. Why can't you do anything like Denny? Your thief of a friend made the front page of the paper and what do you do? Bury your head in a stack of papers and pretend you're doing something worth-while." He growls.

I just hang my head and don't look at him. I try to keep the tears back, but they fall anyway. Pushing my chair back, I run upstairs and lock my door again, packing my book bag up with a few things and the piece of paper I was writing during lunch. Near midnight, I crawl out of my bedroom window equipped with everything I needed to make it far enough away from here to kill myself, not that it'll matter. No one would care if I ended it here or somewhere else.

_|The Next Morning|_

Chris' POV:

Last night was fantastic. I love her so much, words cannot even describe the feelings I have for her. She's at my locker with me when I open it. A piece of slightly crumpled paper wedged in between the side and shelf of my locker.

"What's that, Chris?" Bella asks.

I stare at the paper for almost a minute in silence, Bella growing restless. "It's a letter, from Gordie."

The nervous look in my eyes causes my girlfriend to grow more concerned. My stomach churns sickly as I read through the words again. He's depressed, but worse than that, he's run off to end his life.

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><p><em><strong>AN:**__ Thanks for reading guys! Please review! This is my first time writing a Stand By Me fanfic but I have written quite a few for The Outsiders if you want to check those out. Also, feel free to follow on Instagram if you have one, at(symbol)rememberthe.80s thank you guys so much! Next chapter coming soon!_


	2. Him

|Chapter 2|

_Him_

Chris' POV:

"Babe?" Bella asks. "What's wrong?"

"I – I have to go." I stutter, grabbing my book bag out of my locker again.

I quickly kiss her goodbye and hurry out of the building. _'I have to find him.' _ I think to myself, whipping out of the parking lot in my truck. _'But where the hell did he go?!'_

My fingers drum nervously on the steering wheel as I drive down the road. I'm not quite sure where I'm going but I pull into Gordie's house driveway. His father and I exchange a few hostile words. Apparently, it's been 'quieter' without him there and 'a nice change'. What an asshole. God, I would've taken off long before Gordie did. I start to drive, anxiously keeping my eyes peeled. Driving around Castle Rock, I realize how small this little town is.

Near lunch, I stop the truck, fingering through my hair real stressed. A few hours later I find myself heading on the road that Teddy, Vern, Gordie and me went out to find that kid, Ray Brower's body when we were twelve and a half. I don't know why I drove down that way, I just have this feeling that maybe, he'll be back there for some reason.

"What am I doing here?" I mutter. "Why'd he ever be back here?"

I sit on a fallen tree, looking at the still slightly blocked dirt road through the Oregon woods. I'm about to leave when I hear shouting in the near distance. I jump up, everything on full alert.

'_Is it him?!'_ I let my mind wander as I creep closer to what I can now hear as an upset shouting.

Rounding a few bends, peeking through the trees, I spot a figure standing in the clearing.

"Gordie?" I call hesitantly.

I see the head pop up and then hurry to turn around.

"Gordie!" I cry running up to him.

He begins to run clumsily through the woods away from me, I even struggle to keep up among the roots. I'm finally close enough and there's not tree roots directly in front of him, when I leap, landing a flying tackle on him. We hit the ground hard, I knocked the breath out of both of us. My chest is heaving as I help him up.

"What are you doing, Gordie?" I ask gently brushing the tears from his eyes.

"I don't know." He answers in a choked sob.

I gather him in my arms and we cry together for a while after he stops struggling against me.

"It's okay, buddy. You're gonna be fine, alright? It's gonna be okay, I promise."

He buries his head in my chest further and I run my fingers through his hair, pressing my lips into his forehead. I finally manage to get why he decided to do all this once and for all, now. He explains, tearfully might I add, that a lot of it is his dad but it's also that he doesn't have any friends and no one cares about him.

"Hey, buddy, I – I didn't mean that yesterday. I really didn't. You're always gonna have me, okay?"

He shakes his head 'no' fervently. "You have Bella and the football team, you don't want anything to do with me 'cause it's not cool for you to hang out with a nerd when you're a big hotshot football player."

"Football has nothing to do with this, Gordie! And Bella, well she's just my girlfriend. It doesn't mean that we still aren't best friends." I exclaim.

"You're always too busy with your football friends! You never even try to talk to me anymore!" he cries.

"I – I'm sorry." I whisper gazing into his hurt eyes.

"I can't do it anymore." Gordie replies softly.

From his tone and his past actions, I can tell he's breaking apart.

"We're going to get through this, Gordie." I promise him, wrapping my arm around his shoulders.

* * *

><p><em><strong>AN:**__ Thanks for reading! Please review! Updating soon!_


	3. Us

|Chapter 3|

_Us_

Chris' POV:

Gordie and I stay there talking until about dinner time. As it turns out, Gordie really was going to kill himself, something that I would've blamed myself for 'til the day I died. He had it all planned out as of last night. He slipped into school real late last night when the janitor was still there, shoving the letter in my locker before taking off for the woods. He made it there, on foot, mid-morning. He had the gun and everything. Geez, the kid was real bad off and I didn't even have a clue. I didn't know what an ass I'd been for a while and I wish he'd told me, but now that I think about it, he did, well he'd tried to, I just didn't listen.

"C'mon buddy, can I take you back?" I ask him, brushing through his slight bangs.

"Uh un." He shakes his head 'no' furiously. "There ain't no way I'm goin' back home. My folks'll have my hide. They don't give a hang 'bout me."

"Maybe they don't, Gordie, but I do. C'mon, I gotta little place of my own at the motel. You can stay with me."

"What about _Bella_?" he asks with a snarky tone.

"What about her?"

"Won't _she_ be there to 'do things' with you."

"What?! No! Gordie, c'mon you oughta know that I wouldn't invite my girl over when I gotta friend stayin' with me and I sure as hell wouldn't be havin' sex while somebody's there!"

"That's a surprise." He states dryly.

"Gordie look, I don't know who you think Bella is, but we're not shackin' up every night alright? Every now and then, sure, but I'd never have her over to do _that_ when somebody, much less you, my best bud, is hanging out with me." I defend me and my girlfriend softly.

"And…?"

I sigh, rolling my eyes. "And she doesn't wanna get pregnant 'fore she's done with school, okay?"

"So that's the real reason why you don't have sex with each other all the time. You know Chris, they do make condoms, if you're interested."

I look straight in his eyes. "Gordie, her parents can't even afford to buy food and I can't do much more between her and my meals. Please, Gord, I'm not with her just for the pretty face or to use her, I love her and I really want to marry her when we get on out of school."

"You do?"

"Yeah, I do. She's really sweet and kind and gentle, real smart too. She has a great personality, Gordie and I really wish you'd get to know her instead of just being so hateful towards her because you think she tore our friendship apart." I state firm, but kind. You know, I never thought that _I_ would actually love someone and want to spend the rest of my life with them. It's pretty amazing. "It's okay, Gord. I get it man, I do. You're goin' through a rough patch and you don't know how to even start fixin' things. It's alright buddy. I've been there, I've done that, I still go through it sometimes and it seems impossible, but you just take it one step at a time, do what you can and everything else will slowly start to fall into place. I'm here for you, always, no matter what okay?" I wrap my arm around his shoulder, squeezing them closer to me. "Skin it." I say gently.

He laughs softly and complies.

"I missed you, Gordie." I kiss the top of his head as he wraps his arms around me, burying his head in his chest again.

"I missed you, too." He murmurs.

We walk back a little ways where my truck's parked and I drive him back. We laugh on the way back about stupid things we've done. I pull up to the motel, buy a room, my room in particular, and we both head inside.

"Gord, you uh, might wanna take a shower, buddy." I state laughing, pointing to his dirt smeared shirt and pants.

He laughs and strips, before jumping in the shower. He's 'bout halfway done when I jump in with him fully clothed.

"Chris!" he shouts, a mixture of humor and anger in his voice.

I smile and strip, throwing my water-logged clothes out of the shower.

"Hey, I'm dirty too."

"Yeah but that doesn't mean you have to - "

"Shhh," I place a finger on his lips. I suddenly have a really strong urge to kiss him, make out really. I shake my head, trying to clear the thought. _'I have a girlfriend.' _ I remind myself but the feeling doesn't go away.

"Have I ever told you how handsome you are, Gordie?" I ask, my feet prancing on the shower floor.

He shakes his head no.

"Well, you are." I say definitively.

"Thanks, Chris. That was nice."

"I'm not tryin' to be nice. I'm telling you the truth, man. You're beautiful!"

He blushes and glances away. His abs ripple as he turns to rinse out his hair. I can't hold myself back. I grab his shoulders gently, turning him around to face me. My hands firmly find his waist as I pull his glistening body next to mine, my mouth wrapping around his, my tongue finding his, both intertwining in the other's. His arms slowly make their way around my neck, his hand running through the wet hair on the back of my head. I can tell he's starting to enjoy this as much as I am. My lips feel his one last time before I pull away. He's a bit startled that it ended so soon and looks at me confused.

"I – I'm sorry. I tried to hold that in, but I – I really couldn't. That was just as friends, okay?"

He nods and smiles shyly, his fingers brushing against my chest sensually. "So this is just as friends too."

Gordie grabs my waist, pulling me in for another kiss, his hands searching all of my body, I try to keep mine in the same spot, but they move for his more – vulnerable places. Minutes pass in heaven. When we separate again, our chests are heaving, gasping for breath, but smiling widely. I rinse off but his hands don't ever leave my body. His arms cross over my chest as his head rests on my back. I reach around and kiss his cheek, gently leading him out of the shower. I hand him a towel as I rub it over face trying to dry my face and hair. Gordie just sort of stares at my uncovered body in the bathroom light, nearly drooling as he tries not to stare at my, uh, lower half. I look up at him. Water is dripping off him onto the floor.

"Y'okay, Gordie?" I ask.

"Hmm? Yeah." He answers, beginning to towel himself off.

I guess he hasn't had much of a sex life, granted we are only seniors in high school and it's not like he's had a lot of friends. That might've actually have been his first kiss. Wait, no, he had a three month girlfriend in freshman year. I'm sure they kissed. I shrug, pull my underwear on, beginning to feel a bit like a male prostitute and a hunk of raw meat to a carnivore. Not that I have a problem with having sex, but I really don't want to cheat on Bella because of Gordie. I mean c'mon, it's Gordie, he's a friend, and Bella's like a model. I'm planning on marrying _her_, not _him._ I can tell he's itching to have sex with me, but I don't want to ruin our friendship. Thank God my motel room has two beds. We crawl in separate beds and fall asleep after talking for a while. Near three a.m., someone shakes my shoulder violently. I moan, not wanting to get up and not planning on it either.

"Chris. Chris!" Someone shouts, it sounds like Gordie, but he's far off.

I feel a cold, steel blade press against my throat and my eyes fly open in the darkness. Three darkly clothed men prowl the room, one's pinned Gordie to the wall, one stands guard and one hovers over me and presses the knife into my neck. I can only see his dark, cold, eyes.

"You're done for Chambers." He snarls in a lethal whisper.

I swallow hard, gulping.

_**A/N:**__ Thanks for reading! Please review!_


	4. Them

|Chapter 4|

_Them_

Chris' POV:

"_You're done for Chambers." He snarls in a lethal whisper. I swallow hard, gulping._

"What do you want?" I whisper hoarsely, the blade beginning to cut into my neck. I grow more panicked as I feel the blood dripping down my neck.

"What do _I _want? I wanna slit your throat, Chambers." He breathes. "But the other guys won't let me, right now at least, till we get the money for your sorry ass."

"Just let Gordie go," I rasp. "He doesn't know anything, he doesn't need to see this."

"He's already seen too much, dipshit."

"Gordie, Gordie!" I shout breathlessly, struggling to move and escape my captors.

I don't get very far before a few more guys jump on me, wrestling a handkerchief in my mouth, keeping me in a tight headlock until the world grows dark and fuzzy. I fight with the oncoming darkness but it overtakes me in an instant as the arm hooked around my neck, squeezes tightly again.

My swollen eyes slowly peel open but I can't see anything. They must've blindfolded me. I cringe as pain shoots from every reach of my body. The floor suddenly drops out from underneath me. I groan subconsciously as I slump over onto my side once my beaten body makes hard contact with the grooved, metal floor.

'_I must be in a van.'_ I think wearily, the world tilted on its side, spinning.

I close my eyes in attempts to not throw up. The thought of my broken, depressed friend, Gordie, seeps into my mind. I wonder where he is and if he's alright. I wish I'd known who those men where who barged in my room. I wish I knew who _I _was. The van hits another pothole. My head hits the floor hard again and blood leaks out of my mouth onto the large, empty back of the utility van.

"Gordie-" I mumble, spluttering weakly on my blood before my eyes droop shut.

4 HOURS LATER

I stumble out of the van, the men dragging me by my arms, into what must be a small shack near the woods.

'_Great, what're they going to do now? Rape me? Drug me? Keep me as a slave? Probably just kill me, but Creepo said once they get the money. Well shit, they're not going to get anything for me. My parents sure don't give a hang about me and Bella's broke. On the flip side, at least I'll get killed faster than waiting for someone to send money and then get my throat slit.'_ I tell myself as they throw me onto a dirt floor. We must be miles from civilization considering that it's lighter outside, like mid-morning. I see a slight outline of a person, Gordie I'm presuming, in a limp heap in the corner. God I hope he's not dead. They wouldn't bring him inside if he was though, would they? Not that this is much different from outside, maybe they're going to tie us up in here and then light this place on fire. It'd kill us and destroy any evidence of who we are, who was there, and why we were there. Geez why can't I be the one to come up with these plans and not be the one _in_ them. They retie my wrists together with a stronger piece of rope and then to the wall. I hear them say that a few of them are going to grab some lunch. Heavy boots plod on the floor, growing louder as they approach me. God, I really wish I could get the heck out of here.

A heavy crow bar swings low, thwacking me in side. I can't help but yelp. This time, the bar hits more direct and harder. My attacker, the same one that 'captured' me in the first place, swings the crow bar like a baseball bat, hitting my upper right arm, breaking it. I scream in anger and pain, furious I can't get myself outta this hellhole.

"C'mon man! Lay off. You've done enough, for right now at least." Someone gets my tormentor's attention.

"What d'ya say? What did you say you little shit?" He asks storming over to the other man.

"Just – leave him alone alright?"

"Why? Why should I? We're gonna kill 'em anyway."

"Yeah, maybe, but – but right in front of the other kid? C'mon man, they're only in high school."

"They knew!" He growls. "Chambers knew all along that this was coming! I told 'em! I told 'em right outta my own mouth!"

"Hey, hey, hey." The softer voice soothes, pulling my attacker away from me. "It's been a long time, Ace. I'm sure they didn't think you'd wait this long and still plan on doing this, man. Alright?"

Ace? _Ace?! _ Was that what I heard? Well, then, who's that other voice? Is it the whole gang? All the Cobras? No, not possible. Right? I try to open my eyes to see through the cloth, but they're too swollen to function anyway.

There's a lot of huffing and puffing before Ace, I guess, storms out of the cabin. Light footsteps draw nearer and I begin to shake. They're going to keep hitting me, I know it. My arm hurts like something fierce. I jump when a hand brushes against my cheek.

"Hey." The voice states barely above a whisper. "Chris?" Soft hands untie the blindfold, taking it off before cradling my head against his shoulder.

I'm shaking when I glance up to see whose shoulder I'm lying on. "Eyeball?" I ask slightly shocked that my brother would follow through with something like this but not entirely, he never cared about me anymore than our parents cared about us.

"Oh God, Chris. I – I'm so sorry!" He sobs quietly, running his fingers through my hair. He pushes my chin up even with his, looking into my eyes as tears drip down his face, before kissing my forehead and cheeks. "Are, are you okay sweetie?" His hands running all over my body.

I shout when they press against my arm.

"Chris?!" He asks, pulling away quickly, trying to find the source of my shout.

I close my eyes and take a few deep breaths. "My arm, it's broken." I state through gritted teeth.

"Shit, man. Hey? Hey you feelin' alright? Chris? C'mon say somethin' kid!" He grabs my chin, lifting it, pushing the hair off my forehead as my eyes grow heavy, my vision blurred.

I cough weakly, a sticky, coppery substance, dripping from my lips.

"CHRIS!" My brother screams, grabbing me as I slip forward in his arms.

He pulls me into his lap, tapping my cheek. I blink slowly, Eyeball's blurry face growing clearer. My eyelids are heavy as more blood leaks from my mouth.

"Chris, please, please stay awake. C'mon kiddo." He pleads, nuzzling my nose and brushing his fingers through my hair.

"Hey what's all this commotion?" Ace growls loudly. "What're you doing?! God I knew it! I knew you'd give in. You couldn't help it couldn't you. What'd he do, lie to you, tell you some sob story? When did you_ ever_ start givin' a shit about him? I shoulda known I couldn't trust you with that lying, seething, snake."

"Hey, you shuddup, Ace. He's _my_ kid-brother and _you're_ the one that hurt him so badly." Eyeball growls back.

"E-Eyeball, c'mon man, don't bother. You're never gonna win with him an' he's just gonna end up hurtin' you too. It's fine, just let 'em kill me. Nobody but Bella's gonna care. But she'll get over herself eventually. The marriage wouldn't have worked anyway." I mumble, crawling out of his lap, waiting for the blade to cut into my throat again. "C'mon Ace, can we just get this over with? You're not gonna get any money for my ass, alright? I'm just gonna tell you that now. C'mon." I collapse in the corner, dejected, unloved, and tired. Tired of being abandoned, tired of being told I'm going to amount to nothing, tired of constantly trying to pull myself out of the gutter while people stand at the top, stepping on my fingers.

Ace just sort of nods, pleased with himself, as he walks over to the corner I've flopped into. My brother's eyes grow wide with a fright I've never seen before when Ace pulls his long switchblade out of his pocket, flipping it open.

"One condition, you let Gordie go, don't touch him." I bargain.

"Yeah we'll see." He grumbles.

I close my eyes, I've done all I that I can to save Gordo but only someone else can help save me from myself. I feel Ace's hot, dangerous breath on my neck as a cold line runs across the side of my neck before it starts to burn. He's marking where he's going to cut. This is it. Seventeen years. That's all I had. Was it good enough? I guess it'll have to be now. I want just one more thing, I just want someone to remember me. My warm blood drips down my neck. He's preparing to end it.

"ACE, STOP!" Eyeball screams, body-slamming him to the ground. "Ahhh!" He shouts.

They both roll on the floor. Ace lays still, face-down, as my brother, gasping for breath picks himself up. He tries to stand and walk over to me but as soon as he puts pressure on his right leg, he lets out a scream and falls to the ground again.

"Eye – Eyeball?" I ask hesitantly, crawling weakly over to him. "Yo'kay, man?" I ask. Then I notice the growing, circular, crimson-red, stain on his right leg of his jeans.

He lets out a few grunts of pain as I help lower him to the floor.

"Ace's blade." He answers, noticing that I'm staring at the stab wound.

"You shouldn't have done that. That was a stupid thing to do, Eyeball. You could've gotten yourself killed!" I cry, upset that he intervened but mostly mad at myself for letting him get hurt.

"Yeah, well, that was a risk I was willing to take. I wasn't about to watch him slit your throat alright?! I mean, I know we haven't always gotten along the greatest, if at all, but c'mon you're still my kid-brother an' you don't deserve to die this young. You ain't done anything wrong, man. You're just a kid, Chris."

"I'm not a kid anymore! I'm seventeen years old! I can take care of myself and I sure as hell do deserve to die. I'm no better than the adults down at the prisons an' you don't need to be fightin' _my_ battles and gettin' yourself all beat up, okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, okay. I just – I just couldn't stand the thought of him killin' ya like that, man. It's awful an' you – you were just – okay – with it an' all depressed 'cause you ain't got nothin' to live for. But you do, Chris. You could be a real good, powerful guy one of these days and it'd be my fault if you weren't if I let you be killed. You guys did nothin' but piss Ace off a little bit an' you don't deserve _this_ as a punishment. It's way over the top and he made us all pitch in an' do it too. I felt real bad doin' this shit to you, and – I'm sorry man."

A few moments of silence pass between the two of us. I glance over to Gordie who's still all tied up and then to Ace who's knocked out cold on the floor.

"It's alright. Thanks for saving me." I pat my brothers back gently before walking over to Gordie, untying him, and taking the blindfold off. "Can we go now?" I ask, turning back to Eyeball.

"Yeah, yeah, let me get you guys outta here."

We walk out to the road and climb into a second car. Just before I get in, there's a really loud, sharp noise in my brain, like a woman screaming. I look up to the tree covered sky, the world beginning to spin slightly. I feel myself wobbling, trying to grab onto something, maybe the car but then I feel myself falling. Falling, falling, falling. Falling further into the earth, past the earth, into Hell, past that, into nothingness. I'm so far past Hell that I've been banished into dark, blackness for eternity.

Eyeball's POV:

Chris sways on his feet, stumbling a little. He looks up at the sky as if he's waiting for it to rain or snow or whatever. Then his eyes roll back in his head and he collapses to the muddy ground.

"Chris?!" I shout, clambering gingerly out of the car and rushing to my brother's side.

His eyes are closed and he looks real pale. I tap his cheek and shake him, trying to wake him up. Gordie looks at us from outside the window.

"Looks like he passed out." He states.

I nod my head slowly. My arms wriggle underneath his back and I gently pick him up off the ground, his head hanging over the side of my forearm. The poor kid's really screwed up ain't he. I sit him up in the front seat next to me, his friend Gordie happily taking the back, probably to get as far away from me as possible. I start down the bumpy back road, heading back towards civilization, hoping we'll be far enough away when Ace wakes up for him to find us. My leg is killing me. I try to keep my right hand on it while steering with the left but that gets a little tricky when you need two hands to hold onto the wheel. I probably need to go see one of the quack doctors when we get back in town. But I gotta take Chris somewhere first. He had blood comin' outta his mouth and his arm's broke, so Lord knows what else is wrong.

The whole way back I have this terrible feeling like all of this is my fault and I could've done something to stop all of it from happening. 'Least Chris ain't dead, yet anyways.

* * *

><p><em><strong>AN:**__ One more chapter. Sorry it's taken me so long to update, I have a concussion right now so I can't be on the computer very much at all__. I'm going to try to get everything updated as soon as I can. _


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